This invention relates to true flutes based on free air-reed operation and having a body which is open at both ends, and more particularly to such a flute which is designed to be end blown and played in a vertical position.
As used in this application the word "flute" does not include any of the many types of musical instruments such as "recorders" etc., which although they do not include an actual reed, rely on a confined air passage and "fipple" for operation in the manner of a whistle. Neither does the word flute include any of the many musical instruments such as ocarinas, etc., which, although they utilize a free air-reed, comprise a body which is not tubular and does not enclose a generally cylindrical air column. Finally, as used in this application, the word flute does not include any of the musical instruments such as pan-pipes which may be generally tubular and may use a free air-reed but are closed or stopped at one end in the manner of organ pipes.
Instead, the word flute as used in this application is intended to designate musical instruments such as the so-called "transverse flute," which is widely used in the United States and Europe for entertainment, orchestral and recital purposes, and the nay or quasasba which is used throughout the Islamic world and North Africa, respectively for similar purposes. Historically, the flute as defined herein, although acoustically simpler, is believed to be of much later origin than musical instruments of the "whistle" or "stopped" type. Furthermore, it is an historical fact that the transverse flute has undergone extensive development whereas the nay or quasasba of today is surprisingly similar to the end blown flutes shown in ancient Egyptian stele and comprises a simple straight tube about 3 feet long with from 4 to 6 holes towards the lower end held in a position slanting obliquely across the body for blowing across the end thereof.
In the 1890's an attempt was made to introduce a flute similar to the nay or quasasba to the Western world by Carlo Tomasso Giorgi. The Giorgi flute was designed to be played in a vertical position, being provided with a free air-reed embouchure at one of its open ends, and was essentially keyless although one to four keys were added in some examples in an attempt to extend its range. (See C. T. Giorgi U.S. Pat. No. 594,735, issued Nov. 30, 1897.) At a later date a fully keyed version known as the "Giorgi-Schaffner" flute was proposed as part of universal woodwind fingering scheme intended to be competitive with the well established "Boehm" system. However, both the Giorgi flute and the Giorgi-Schaffner flute are today a collector's curiosity, as pointed out in the book entitled "The Flute" by Philip Bate first published in 1969 by Ernest Benn, London, England, and W. W. Norton Co., New York, N.Y. This fact is believed to be the result of the limited range of the Giorgi type flute, as well as playing and fingering difficulties.
A more recent end blown flute is that shown in Sam Wesley, Sr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,154, issued June 10, 1975. This flute has a greater range than the Giorgi or Giorgi-Schaffner flutes, and is comparable to the range of the standard traverse blown flute. However, because of the location of the tone holes, the mechanized version of the flute in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,154 requires an arrangement of pads and keys which differs from that of a standard transverse flute, and a fingering system also different from that used to play a transverse flute.
Although an end blown flute has significant advantages over a transverse flute in that the vertical position of playing makes it less awkward and enables greater flexibility in fingering and phrasing, the necessity for learning a different fingering system greatly inhibits a beginning flute player from choosing an end blown flute over the widely used transverse flute. Likewise, the different fingering system will deter a transverse flute player from switching to an end blown flute or from adding it as an auxiliary instrument.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an end blown flute having the range of a transverse flute and a tone hole arrangement enabling the end blown flute to be mechanized and played with the same fingering system as that used with a transverse flute.
It is a further object to provide an end blown flute with an embouchure which enables the third register to be played more easily.